This invention relates to sheet material usable by a consumer to prevent lateral movement of an area rug on a floor surface and more particularly, to a foam sheet material having uniform characteristics with an adhesive coated top surface and a non-adhesive bottom surface.
Consumers often use area rugs over a wide variety of flooring, both for decoration and to prevent wear in high traffic areas. These rugs can add color to a room and can prevent premature wear of a floor""s finish. However, area rugs have a tendency to move laterally when placed on hard, smooth flooring. This results in the area rug moving from its desired location and/or the formation of wrinkles in the area rug.
Various products have been used to reduce the amount of lateral movement and wrinkling that are traditionally associated with area rugs. These include the use of double-faced adhesive tape, wherein one surface adheres to the underside of the rug and the other adheres to the floor surface. While double-faced adhesive tape can reduce the amount of lateral movement and wrinkling, it has many inherent disadvantages. One such disadvantage is the inability to adjust the rug once it has been positioned. This makes installation more difficult by not permitting adjustment, and makes cleaning the floor surface, redecoration, or rearrangement laborious. In addition, the adhesive associated with double-faced tape tends to break down over time, causing residue to remain on the floor surface after removal of the rug. This breakdown also affects the bond between the tape and the floor surface, thereby reducing the expected life span of the product.
Another product that has been used to prevent lateral movement of an area rug is made from a loosely-woven fabric scrim that has been coated with a foamed polyvinyl chloride. This product is non-continuous in that there are openings between many of the adjacent scrim fibers even after the application of the foam. The foam has a non-slip characteristic to reduce the lateral movement even though it is not an adhesive. Such foam-covered scrim sheet material is commercially available in various sizes. While the foam scrim overcomes many of the problems associated with use of double-sided tape, it also has many disadvantages. Firstly, while the polyvinyl chloride foam has good non-slip characteristics in relation to smooth surfaces, its non-slip characteristics are limited in relation to the underside surface of a rug. Therefore, while the coated scrim may remain in position in relation to the flooring, the area rug has a tendency to move laterally in relation to the foam scrim and the floor. Secondly, the voids present between the adjacent scrim fibers can trap unwanted moisture or debris thereby increasing the likelihood of damage to the floor surface that the rug is meant to protect. Thirdly, polyvinyl chloride coated foam scrims used in the past can contain plasticizers which can leech out over time, thereby causing discoloration of floor surface upon which the polyvinyl chloride foam is placed.
In an attempt to overcome the shortcomings of the polyvinyl chloride coated scrim, adhesives have been utilized in connection with loosely-woven scrims instead of the polyvinyl chloride foam as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,649 which is incorporated herein by reference. This enables the scrim to better adhere to the bottom surface of the area rug in an attempt to reduce lateral movement of the rug in relation to the scrim. However, since the use of adhesives is known to leave a residue on the floor surface after removal, one side of the scrim has a light coating of adhesive while the other side of the scrim has a heavier coating of adhesive. The heavily coated side is designed to adhere to the underside surface of the area rug, while the lightly coated side is designed to adhere to the floor surface. While the use of adhesive improves the performance of the product, the manner in which it is used has inherent problems. Both the lightly coated and heavily coated surfaces of the scrim are virtually identical visually. Therefore, the end user of this product can easily apply the wrong surface of the scrim to the underside of the area rug. The result is poor performance. As with the polyvinyl chloride coated scrim, the lightly coated surface of the adhesive scrim, which is intended to adhere to the floor surface, fails to adequately adhere to the underside surface of the area rug. In addition, use of the heavily coated side of the scrim on the floor surface increases the difficulty in removing the rug gripper from the floor, and also increases the amount of residual adhesive that will remain on the floor after the product is removed. Even if the product is properly oriented in relation to the area rug and the floor surface, residual adhesive on the floor surface after removal is still often associated with this product. This inherent problem increases as the duration of use of the product increases. Furthermore, the problem associated with the loosely-woven scrim trapping unwanted moisture and debris is not overcome by this product. Another disadvantage is that exposure to moisture can drastically reduce the performance of the adhesive. As a result, the adhesive-coated scrim does not perform well in all conditions and can even mar the finish of the floor surface which it is supposed to protect.
In accordance with the present invention, an improved rug gripper is provided which advantageously prevents lateral movement of an area rug in relation to a floor surface in a manner which promotes ease of use and the ability to reposition the rug without reducing the rug gripper""s ability to prevent lateral movement or leave unwanted residue. Furthermore, the rug gripper is of a continuous design thereby reducing voids which can trap unwanted moisture or debris. Moreover, the rug gripper is equally effective on a wide range of floor surfaces and is not significantly affected by wet floor surfaces.
The foregoing advantages are achieved in accordance with the present invention by utilizing a continuous non-slip foam to engage the floor surface. The opposite surface of the rug gripper is coated with an adhesive to facilitate the connection with the underside surface of the area rug. As a result, the rug gripper remains rigidly interengaged with the underside surface of the rug and the non-slip continuous foam is the only portion of the product that engages the floor surface to prevent lateral movement of the rug. Accordingly, when the rug is removed or repositioned, residual adhesive is not left behind on the floor surface, and the rug gripper will work in the new position or location without reapplication.
It is accordingly an outstanding objective of the present invention to provide a rug gripper for preventing lateral movement of an area rug when placed on a floor surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rug gripper with an upper surface which will securely adhere to the underside surface of an area rug.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a rug gripper which has a non-adhesive bottom surface which directly contacts the floor surface.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a rug gripper which minimizes residual matter left behind after removal thereof from the floor surface.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a rug gripper which has no voids to adversely produce spaces or pockets for trapping moisture and debris.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a rug gripper which is inexpensive to manufacture while providing superior properties.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rug gripper that is easy to use by the end-user.